Solace
by Fantastic Nonsense
Summary: What if Weatherby Swann had never died? Post AWE, Governor’s thoughts and actions when Elizabeth returns from her adventure and “One Day”. NOTE: The scene in AWE in the Locker with her father never happened, obviously.


Hey guys! Now yes, I know, I should be working on all of my chaptered fics, but hey! When you've got a plot bunny, you've got a plot bunny!

Now, this...this is pretty sad, especially for me. It's not over the top all angsty/broken-hearted, but still.

Anyway, don't forget to review (PLEASE REVIEW!!!!) and have a nive time reading!

~Aubrey

* * *

Broken

Weatherby Swann, governor of Port Royal, paced about the study. This was worse than when he had been held captive by Cutler Beckett. At least there, he had been able to receive at least **some** news. After they had let him off at Port Royal, with guards accompanying him to 'keep him quiet' about his ordeal on the Endeavor, the scant flow of news had been almost entirely eradicated.

He had just received news from one of the armada ships. "Lord Beckett is dead! The Endeavor has been sunk!"

When he enquired further, he found astonishing news. There had been 'an epic fight' between the Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl. No one knew the details, only that when the fight was over, Davy Jones was dead, the pirates had won, and that his daughter had been a crew member of the Pearl at the time fighting had commenced. He didn't know if she was alive or dead.

Suddenly, a maid appeared at the door.

"Begging your pardon, sir, but there's someone at the door for you."

Mr. Swann sighed, thanked the maid, and stepped out into the hall, bound for the front door. He opened the door to receive a shock. The notorious pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, was sitting on his steps, holding a crying Elizabeth awkwardly in his arms.

Weatherby stood there for a moment, shocked speechless. Sparrow looked up, and nodded his head briefly in greeting.

"Come on, Lizzie. Let's go inside and explain this whole mess to your father."

Elizabeth turned, saw her father, and jumped up to hug him forcefully. "Oh father! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!"

"Now, now, Elizabeth. I'm so glad to see you're safe." He turned to the pirate. "And just what do you have to explain to me, Mr. Sparrow? And where is Mr. Turner?"

Sparrow grimaced. "That is a story you'll just have to leave for Mrs. Turner over there. Be easy on her, the poor lass has had a hard couple of months."

Mr. Swann jerked around to look at Elizabeth with wide eyes. "Mrs. Turner? Since when are you married? Will someone kindly tell me just what is going on here?!"

Elizabeth stood up shakily and said, "I will. Jack, may I have the Pearl, please?" Sparrow reached into one of his pockets and withdrew a perfect black pearl.

"Apparently Calypso likes irony," he explained, grinning slightly.

"I don't understand. What's a black pearl has to do with this? And who is Calypso?"

"Ah, ah, ah. Hold it with the questions, Mr. Swann. Let's make this clear. You will be silent, you watch and listen, and then you can ask questions to your little heart's content, savvy?" Mr. Swann nodded.

"Jack, don't be rude."

"Of course, Elizabeth."

By this time, they had entered the lounge. Jack casually took up residence in a poufy armchair, slinging his feet over the side. Mr. Swann was on a relatively comfortable chair, and Elizabeth had plopped down in a loveseat that usually she and Will occupied together. It looked strange to see just Elizabeth sitting there.

"The jist of it is William's gone for the next ten years, Lizzie here is without her dear husband, and she's now the Pirate King. Oh, and she fought brilliantly in the battle, in case you haven't heard."

Weatherby blinked. He was beyond confused now. Will gone? Elizabeth married? Fought brilliantly? But one thing stood out more prominently than anything else did.

"Pirate King?"

"Uh, take it from here, Elizabeth. You haven't got any rum, do you?" Anxious to get the pirate to leave the room, Mr. Swann was more than willing to give up some of his personal stash of rum.

"Yes, I think that we do, actually. It's in the kitchen, in the wine cellar. First door to your right after you walk down the hallway." And with that, Jack was gone, leaving Elizabeth and her father along in the lounge.

"Elizabeth…"

"I suppose I should explain."

"That would be extremely helpful."

"Please don't use sarcasm, father. It doesn't suit you."

"Very well. Please explain why Mr. Turner is no here, how you became the Pirate King, and whatever else you feel the need to tell me."

Elizabeth sighed dejectedly and leaned against the arm of the loveseat. "Well," she said. "It all started out when Will and I got arrested by Cutler Beckett more than a year ago….."

* * *

"…and now Will has to serve on the Flying Dutchman for ten years, and if I am waiting on the shore for him when he comes back, he can go free."

Mr. Swann's head was spinning with the new information he had just been told, straight from his daughter's mouth. The way she told it, the pirates were the 'good guys' of the tale. Even the pirate who had kidnapped her, Hector Barbossa, turned out to be a pretty decent man in the end.

Elizabeth had told him everything; what she had done after she escaped form the prison, the time aboard the Pearl with Jack (she even told him about his attempts to seduce her, to her embarrassment), the escape from the Kraken, Singapore, their time at World's End, Davy Jones, and the final battle.

Elizabeth was in tears again. Weatherby moved to comfort her as he used to do when she was small. She had been particularly afraid of thunderstorms, and each time one came around, she had run into her father's room. He comforted her now the same way he had then, rocking her back and forth gently and rubbing her back. He may be the governor of Port Royal and a very stern man besides, but he was a father first. He didn't care at that moment who saw them. He was just another father comforting his broken child.

_Broken._ He had been trying to pin a word down to describe Elizabeth ever since he had first seen her crying on the front steps. His daughter was broken, perhaps beyond repair. Her heart had been broken, mended, and then broken again. All three had been done by William Turner. He felt the brief notion to strangle Will, then remembered all that Will had done for Elizabeth.

Mr. Swann realized then that the good things that Will had done for her outweighed the bad by a lot. Besides that, he felt sure that Will would have given anything to be with Elizabeth instead of ferrying dead souls to the other side. He also remembered what Elizabeth had told him.

"_Will only started fighting Davy Jones because I was too weak. He managed to disarm me and throw me against the stairs, dazing me. When I regained my senses, Will was staring at the end of Jones' sword, and I was helpless to do anything."_

"_Will didn't have to fight. He was fighting his father at the time. His father had been brainwashed and didn't even recognize his own son. But he abandoned his fight to help me, because he loved me. _

"_I also give credit to Jack. He didn't have to be selfless. He could have just stabbed the heart and taken Jones' place himself. But he didn't. He helped Will stab it so that we could have another chance to be together, even if we had to wait."_

Weatherby felt the urge to rub his temples. He supposed he ought to thank Sparrow for giving his daughter another chance at the man she loved, but right now, there were more important things to attend to. His daughter.

Jack stepped into the lounge taking a long swig from a dusty bottle of rum, and happened upon a touching scene. Governor Swann, whose stern visage had kept pirates and thieves mostly out of Port Royal, was sitting on the floor, gently rubbing the back of the feared and fearless Pirate King, Elizabeth Swann-Turner. He quietly took his leave, turning on his heel back towards the kitchen. After all, there was still plenty of rum left in the wine cellar.

* * *

Tada! Broken is now finished!

If you're a good little reader and you click the big green button that says review down there, I might even give you a cookie! Or a piece of cake!

~Aubrey


End file.
